Dallas-based Texas Black Film Festival nails down its schedule for 2009

by John P. Meyer

Highlighting the recently-announced lineup of films for the third annual Texas Black Film Festival are an Angela Bassett feature called Gospel Hill, a Dallas-produced movie starring Louis Gossett, Jr. (The Least Among You) and a robust selection of short films and documentaries.

Every film shown at the festival will be a premiere to the Dallas area - and in addition to the films, there will be an industry workshop and community panel discussions on the business of film.

The venue this year has shifted south from the Studio Movie Grill in Addison to the SMG location in North Dallas (at Royal and Central).

Following this year's Dallas film screenings (taking place Thursday - Saturday, Feb. 5 - 7), the festival organizers will take their "best of fest" selections down to Austin and Houston, where they'll share their fare with folks in those cities (at local Studio Movie Grills).

Below is a roughout of the schedule for the three-day Dallas run - here are the specifics, as posted to the event calendar.

Ticketing for the show is by two-hour programming segments ($8 each), or you can purchase a festival pass ($25/day or $60 for the whole weekend) and attend any event you want.

Thursday:

* 10 a.m. - noon - Home Grown and Warrior Queen

* noon - 2 p.m. - Filmmaker workshop

* 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. - Renaissance Village (documentary)

* 4 p.m. - 6 p.m. - Diary of a Tired Black Man (feature documentary)

* 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. - Happy Hour Shorts program

* 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. - Gospel Hill (feature film)

* 10 p.m. - midnight - Clean Mic (late night feature)

Friday:

* 10 a.m. - noon - All That Jazz, Why Do I Look Like My Father and Unanswered Prayer (shorts)

* noon - 2 p.m. - Documentaries

* 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. - Documentaries